The Brits, evidently, are not greatly impressed with the idea of Olympic soccer. Last week the Olympic Games organizers announced that they were
withdrawing 500,000 soccer tickets. Half a million tickets taken off the market -- because they're not selling in this soccer-devoted country. The move also involved a massive downsizing of the
stadiums -- i.e. closing off whole tiers -- where soccer is to be played.

There are six such stadiums, and their locations are part of the problem.The Olympic Games are allocated to a
city -- in this case, London. These games will always be known as the London Olympics -- yet here are soccer games being played hundreds of miles away in Glasgow, in Newcastle, in Cardiff. While
London bubbles with Olympic excitement, Glasgow faces up to the fact that the Great Britain soccer team selected by Coach Stuart Pearce does not include a single Scottish player.

Quite
aside from nationalistic concerns, it is difficult to imagine Glaswegians getting too excited about Honduras vs. Morocco or Egypt vs. Belarus, two of the first-round games to be played at the
city’s Hampden Park stadium.

In selecting his team, Pearce clearly ignored the political correctness of including at least one Scottish and one Northern Irish player. He simply made
it clear that he couldn’t find any players from those “countries” who were good enough. There is no reason to doubt his judgment.

We got a look at Pearce’s
Anglo-Welsh GB team on Friday, taking on Brazil’s Olympic team. For GB fans -- if such beings exist -- it was a depressing occasion. During a comfortable 2-0 win for Brazil, Team GB managed just
one shot on goal. OK -- this is a very good Brazil team, probably the favorite for the gold medal, but the gap in skills between the two teams was pretty alarming.

The GB player who drew
most attention was the second-half goalkeeper Jack Butland -- and it’s never a good sign when the goalkeeper is singled out for praise. Sure, Butland’s saves late in the game prevented
Brazil from at least doubling its score, but by then Team GB had completely run out of steam, while the Brazilians were hardly exerting themselves at all.

But the thought occurs: Maybe
Olympic soccer, an ill-defined tournament with teams of under-23 players each with three over-age players (and whatever kind of a team is that?) will, on this one occasion, be of some significance to
the soccer world.

In two ways: Firstly, by signaling the return of Brazil. I mean the real Brazil, the Brazil of flowing skillful soccer, the Brazil of artistry and trickery, the
goal-scoring Brazil. The Brazil that brings sunshine and smiles to a game that too frequently has a grey defensive pall to it.

And secondly by making it devastatingly clear to the Brits
-- the English in particular -- that their brand of soccer, the way they have been playing it for decades, unwilling (because it surely cannot be unable) to change, is not good enough. By
demonstrating, on British soil, that they have to take a look at what Spain and Brazil are doing, and to be willing to learn.

Will that happen? How can one be optimistic, given
that we’ve been waiting for at least 40 years for a sign from the Brits that they are aware of their own shortcomings? This satisfaction with the inadequate goes deep into the Brit soccer
culture. The reaction of fans in Middlesbrough during Brazil’s outclassing of Team GB was not encouraging. The same old things that have always drawn applause continue to do so -- the long balls
for players to chase (usually in vain), the meaningless long cross-field passes, the hard tackles, and, of course, the crosses. Those damn crosses that neatly symbolize the lack of variety in the Brit
game.

Of course, there was always the goalkeeper to cheer. And there was also the opportunity to belittle Brazil’s vastly superior skill. Neymar was found guilty by the fans (though
not by the referee) of having dived early in the game, so he was duly booed from then on. Neymar, one of the brightest young talents in the game, booed in England. Rather like being banned in Boston.
An honor more than a disgrace.

The outlook for any updating of Brit soccer is bleak. The cherished “traditional” values continue to be cherished in a soccer world that has
long overtaken them. The recent appointment of Roy Hodgson as the national team coach is a look not forward, but backward. Hodgson, an honorable man who seems mired in the 1950s, back in the days
when, maybe, crosses really did make the difference, when you always had a burly center forward to head them in. Andy Carroll, anyone?

As for Brazil, things look much brighter. The irony
here is that Brazil, like England, is looking back to its traditional values. But these are not the sort of threadbare values that England seeks, these are the values that made Brazil for so long the
undisputed leader of the world game. They have gone somewhat astray lately, as Brazil has adopted a more physical, more tactical -- really, a more European -- approach to the game.

The change has been of doubtful use. The two most recent World Cups have seen an uninspiring Brazil eliminated in the quarterfinals. But the cry -- from Brazil’s own fans, from the soccer
world in general, really -- for the return of the real Brazil seems to have been heard.

Coach Mano Menezes’s Olympic team looks much closer to the real thing. We got a good look at
this team earlier this year when it beat the USA 4-1, and then, in New Jersey, lost 3-4 to the full Argentine team. The seven goals that it scored in those two games tell the story of a lively
attacking team and, given the under-23 restriction, a young team. Plenty of Brazilian skills on offer, too -- from Neymar, Oscar, Hulk, Pato and Lucas.

If this is the future of Brazilian
soccer, if this young group can survive the ordeal of playing in Europe (where they will be pressured into being more European and less Brazilian), then that will be reason enough to offer thanks to
the ungainly, irrational beast that is Olympic soccer.

Maybe us Brits can change. It will take time, maybe as long as it's taking soccer to catch on as a major sport in the US. But there is at least one positive sign. Swansea City were praised across the land last season for their style of play. While as a fan of the Swans I was bitterly disappointed to see Brendan Rodgers depart for Liverpool, if his new team plays in a similar fashion to his old one, given the bigger stage they command it will surely have a significant impact on the British game. And with Michael Laudrup taking over at Swansea, there may now be at least two teams in the Premiership who favour skill, possession, and movement over speed and strength. We can only hope.

Walt Pericciuoli

commented on: July 23, 2012 at 10:10 a.m.

It is not in their (Brits)nature to change what they think is superior "football", in favor of the less manly game that the "continentals" play.It hasn't changed in the past 50 years,why should anyone expect it to change in the next 50 years?Despite not having won anything at the international stage since 1966,they will soldier with the same plan.
My concern is here in the USA where our training and player development has been dominated by the "professional" paid UK trainers and coaches.

Jogo Bonito

commented on: July 24, 2012 at 2:05 a.m.

Walt's final point is why I have such a huge problem with Brits here in the US. I'm not a prejudice person, but I have become very suspicious of any coach with a Brittish accent. I have met some good ones, but unfortunately so any are part of the problem. My prejudice (so I guess I'm admitting I have one!) is not fair to those excellent Brittish coaches I've met. As far as the game is concerned: Brazil was very fun to watch and the Brits were so bland and dry that I was sure that I was watching the worst college soccer team in the US. They offered nothing watchable at all.